New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-06-10
REV PUBLICATIONS.
HENRY WARD BEECHER.


LIFE OF HENRY WARD BEECHER. By JOSEPH
HOWARD. JR lone PIP COL Phiiadephia' iiuoo"iu
Brothers
srEEGHEs or Rex EHEf WHRP DE hhkfHhn Is
GREAT BRITAIN IL 1868. Revised ana now hr''
published In America Frank r. Lowell 20
The fact that lives of distinguished men which
me hurricdiy written to satisfy the puhiic 'l'ei'
est aroused by their deaths cannot IN the mature
of things be mach more than sketch OF their
personalities and public lhbors Is distinctly reco@-
nized l,y the author Of the book we are consider
Ing. Mr. Howard has nevertheless succeeded IN
doing valuable work. lie has collected in an
available shape a vast quantity OF materisi whl;h
will be highly useful in assisting the pubic 10
true and usG estimate OF Mr.. Beecher a. man. an
orator and patriot. Perhaps tn re is no amer
lean OF our times concerning whose qualities there
is more dispute than Mr.. Beechcr Dur ng his long
md ALWAYS conspicuous life he said and dld SO
many apnarcntly inconsistent things he seemed AT
times so loyal to the principles lie avowed ana a'
times so forgetfu. OF them, at times Sc ORTHODOX
and Mt Tires so subversive OF established doctrine
that his enemies have ample opportunity TO decIy
him and his friends must prepare the way TO euiogy
by explanation and apology Certainly now
ever, the career OF man whose influence was SO
great AS Mr. Beecher's is we'll worth writing about,
and Mr. Towards sympathetic story cannot fail to
interest.
Considering tho cordial and even intimate rela-
lions which existed between the author and the
tubiect of his book there is less of eulogy IN II IMAM
might have been expected and even pardoned III
tolls in a simple. graphic way tho busy record OF
Mr.. Beecher's life. 1t contains copiOus extracts
from his sermons addresses. lectures and letters,
and endeavors to supply the reader with the ma
terial for an accurate judgment of the great
preacher .
The public is tolerably familiar with Mr.
Bcechers CHILDHOOD its severties and hardshlps
and with the struggles of his youth for they are
subiects he loved to dwell! upon In his speeches,
whether delivered from the pulpit or the platform
lie drew largely upon the scenes of his boyho0d Tor
illustrations Mr.. Howard redrawS these plctores-
his brilliant but erratc father, his austere home
his lonely childhood though an abundant family
was about him. his college life, his early ambi-
tors Ills doctrinal doubts, and his first pastorate.
This was scarcely a hOreful entry upon the great
future before him.
His entire iucOnle was less than $500 pOninal!y,
and part of that was paid IN corn potatoes ana
other products of the soil When he needed
bousc to 1--we in he hauled the logs His neiehbors
aided him to Put it IN. the whitewash ana paint
he ATTENDED to himself. The rapidlty with which
his children followed each other, and the ma'aral
condition of the section Ill which he lived broke
down the strong constitution OF lis faithful wife,
and as they we're unable to pay a servant throw
on him the domestic drudyery. lie chopped the
wood, drew the water. peeled the POTATOES
cooked the food served it, washed the dishes and
cleaned up the house. When sickness nccessitated
freGuent washiugS OF s0iied clothes. 1t was he VINO
did the work. Part Of the time hc did double duty
and rode twenty II lies through the woods and
across the prairies to the log schoo-house in
which service was held. preached rode back
again cooked tho dinner. preached in his own
elm rcb returned to nuree his sick wife and at
tend to the children, got the supper and spent tie
evening in the pgayer-mceting.
His sermons at this time attracted much atten-
ton, aud particularly that series of lectures to
young men, which even yet widely quoted. 1t
was in these that he made that bitter attack upon
the theatre which in later times he 50 literally
modified. /. was a bewilderug attack, bristling
with sentences like these: We cannot pay hon
est debts but we can pay Elssler hundreds of thou
sands for being an airy syph. America can pay
varabond fddlers fashionable actors, dancing
horses and boxing men. Heaven forbid that
these should want Men love TO be taxed for gidty
Measure but we grow suddenly saving when JUS
tice duns for debts
Mr.. Howard dwells at length upon the interest
Ing story of Mr. Beechor's removal from Inlana2o-
lis to Brooklyn at the cal OF the newly formed
Plymouth Church Society. 1t seems that even
then Mr.. Beecher cared litt,e for tenet
Tho council that assembled TO examine the young
candidate found that their task was no ordi-
questions. but received very strange and unexpect-
cd answers The wiseheads doubted and for
a while it was by no means certain that they
would take the responsibility OF seating him in the
pHlpt. They ght haze saved thsnselVes thor
trouble. 1t every man OF them hal yotrd " no. ~
then. through the dark days OF ou'SpOken ADOLF
tonism; then as in the peTilous PROD OF the war
Plymouth Church believed in Henry Ward
Beecher
The story of Mr.. Bcecher's warfare upon slavery
is told with capital vIgor. He fought at first amid
grea. ridicule and encouragement. The author
recalls a cartoon in Harper's Weekly picturng Mr..
Beechcr in tie act of refusing the communion to
George Washington because Washington owned
slaves His Wis to England and its exciting Incl
dents told with minuteness. and many OF TIE
rem speeches he delivered there are repro
duced in full, aud form an Interesting feature OF
the book The author attributes Mr. Beechers odd
course in sustaining Andrew johnson to his uni
yersal confidence and his pity for the PROSTATE
South.
AS show ng how arlently the preacher worked,
his bio grapher RECALLS that down to 1872
He had published ten volumes of sermons, elch OF
475 pages four others OF 800 pages each Pook
nres TO Young Men" 500 pages 600 pages of
"Star Papers; 49S pages OF Talking about
Fruits Flowers ara faImnF v, hsttnTe Eoom IN
New-Eng gland" 549 pages the overture OF An
gels" Eyes and Ears. or Thoughts as they Occur
fFreel0m and War;" Royal Truths, Founda-
ton and Experience Of Religious Subjects, and
all this IN addition 10 bis writngs-yoInmes be-
yond descrption-on agriculture. politics ana gen
era subjects. added to his routine work of preach
ing twice on Sunday and monologue. as It were.
at his Friday night prayermeetngs and his spec
Ial trims for lecturiDQ before literary societies or
speakin before miscellaneous audiences
1t would be pleasan. TO reprint here some of the
more striking passages from the clergymans letters
(many of which have never been published beforc),
lectures and miscellaneous papers with which Mr..
Towards book is generously filled. They are
dainty specimens from that mental flower garden
which he constantly displayed.